The Political Thread

[Karl Stephan]

"'Occupy' is nothing but a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists, an unruly mob, fed by Woodstock-era nostalgia and putrid false righteousness,"

Strange but true: my brother works for the local council, and he says the dirtiest bastards he has to clean up after are born-again christian crowds and Orange Lodge marches - basically the most right-wing types the country has to offer, though he doesn't grumble much about them as he's incredibly grateful for the overtime in these uncertain times.

To be fair, it's rare to see ANYONE in this country clean up after themselves whether it be for a demo, a festival or camping outside an Apple store overnight for the new Iphone.

[Professor Bear]

He's quite insistent that the communists and fringe hippy types clean up after themselves just fine to the point they often take their rubbish with them instead of stuffing it in the bins dotted around the street (recycling enviromentalist posers!).  It's the clean-living-and-Sunday-best crowd that tend to take packed lunches and then throw everything at their arses that he's going on about.

As a dog owner, my peeve is those who won't clean up after their dogs have shit on the pavement.  Worse still are those who act like it's the dog's fault.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

Protestants. Up to no good as usual.

[Jock Savage]

Protestants. Up to no good as usual.

Protestants have been shitting on the pavements?

[M.I.K.]

Don't be scared. Frightened people are easier to control.

No. Big misconception. The slightly worried and literally petrified may be easier to control, but too much fear is just as likely to set off the fight or flight response, which leads to unpredictability.

[Professor Bear]

I think Sharky McFalcon meant that when people are afraid they look for comfort and certainty, hence they act conservatively.  It's why right-wing media fosters fear instead of just telling you all the good things that conservatism has achieved.

Protestants. Up to no good as usual.

Protestants have been shitting on the pavements?

I wouldn't put it past them - over here, prods are almost as bad as the taigs.

[The Legendary Shark]

No problem, Dark Jimbo, no offence taken. I know my views are a bit inflammatory at times so I never take counter-comments personally.
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I don't have a perfect solution either, nor do I know all the answers - but I do have suggestions.
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My main problem is with being told what to do. Take tax, for example. I'd be far more likely to pay up if taxes were voluntary, but they aren't. "Authority" demands its cut of my wages, its cut of virtually everything I buy as well. And this tax gets taken out before I get my cut of the work I've done, the money I've earned, and I can have what's left? Fuck. That.
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If a mugger came up to me and demanded just a percentage of everything I had on me, I wouldn't consider him/her to be a decent mugger. If someone asked me for money, I'd be more likely to tip up a few quid. "Authority," like a mugger, doesn't ask, it demands - and if I say no it takes it anyway, any way it can.
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"Authority" thinks it has the right to demand a cut of my wealth to spend however it pleases. That means that some of my money has been used to kill people. Fuck. That.
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"Authority" never asks for anything (except my vote) but makes demands and threats. It's nothing more than Mafia-type extortion and it's illegitimate. I have no real problem with government as a concept but, if I can't say "no" to it then it can get lost. If it wants to work with me, I'm all for it. If it wants to rule me, it can fuck right off.
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But, as I've said before, I can't change the world - I can only change my world. So that's what I'm trying to do and the first step, the hardest step, is to start saying "no."

[M.I.K.]

I think Sharky McFalcon meant that when people are afraid they look for comfort and certainty, hence they act conservatively.  It's why right-wing media fosters fear instead of just telling you all the good things that conservatism has achieved.

Yes, but the post previous to Shark's Falcon's was about being scared of the government itself.

[The Legendary Shark]

Yes, and government controls people through fear - "do as you're told or else."

[M.I.K.]

Kicks government in unmentionables and runs away.

This has been a Party Political Broadcast by the SNP.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

I think that most ex service men and current ones will disagree about the 'trivial incident ' and 'small piece of easily cleanable graffiti' being of no bother. No matter what the problem is, there is no reason to do such a thing. Obviously I can understand why and having actually talked to veterans from The Great War and numerous conflicts since, while visiting these men and women in old peoples homes and Royal British Legion villages.

I await somebody saying it was a Tory activist who did it, to stir it up!

By the way I asked Harry Potter, Harry Hill, Harry Houdini, Harry Belafonte, Harry Styles and Harry S Truman and they were all against the actions of that idiot. Don't worry, I checked my facts and that's a fact!

[Jim_Campbell]

I think that most ex service men and current ones will disagree about the 'trivial incident ' and 'small piece of easily cleanable graffiti' being of no bother.

I didn't say it was 'no bother'... I said that, in the scheme of things, a bit of easily removable paint was hardly worth the outrage being whipped up when no one seems to give a fuck about the active destruction of the NHS and the wholesale removal of our human rights.

But then, you have a habit of wilfully mis-reading my posts. Either that or you struggle with basic English. Troll or idiot... let the people decide!

Jim

[COMMANDO FORCES]

It is worth the anger from people who have lost friends and loved ones due to conflicts, especially if they have no grave to visit. When you understand the meaning of that, TORY voter Jim (Fact) then I'll be bothered about what you say!

And yes people do get upset about the NHS but obviously not enough to vote against the conservatives who, forgive me if I'm wrong, won a legal election in a democracy. If you don't like that, then tough shit, it's democracy. You know, the thing people fought and died for!

Now if we have PR, things would be different but then you'd have quite a lot of UKIP MP's, so you can't win either way.

[IndigoPrime]

Quite a lot of UKIP MPs would be representative of quite a lot of UKIP votes. So be it. We need to own our votes in a country-wise basis, not sweep extremism under the carpet. But also the UKIP vote was quite clearly in part a protest vote. Lots of LD votes went to UKIP, since LDs became part of the establishment in people's eyes. If we had some flavour of PR—AMS or STV, say—I imagine people would vote quite differently. Maybe that'd result in a big bloc of UKIP MPs, and maybe it wouldn't. But at least we wouldn't have the absurd imbalance seen in parliament today.

[dancornwell]

As he said, it was an election, by vote. The people voted. The Tories won. If they fuck it up then they'll be voted out as Labour were 5 years ago. And so on and so on. Democracy. If the minority won then there would be a whole other crowd of protesters. You can't please everyone. And defacing war memorials is just wrong. My opionion only. One of millions it would seem.